It's The Sudden Stop That'll Kill You
by Grykon
Summary: Continuing the Uncivil War story line. A story that will be modifying 3x03 It Isn't The Fall That Kills You. Tim shows up at the Garage the next morning and the drama and questions that follow. The characters belong to their copyright holder as does the premise of the show and the borrowed elements of 3x03. AU 50.002
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to 'Its The Sudden Stop That'll Kill You'. This follows Uncivil War and becomes a new 3x03 'It Isn't The Fall That Kills You'. Italicized words are direct quotes from 3x03, my gratitude to the website springfieldsspringfield dot co dot uk for their archive of Scorpion scripts, I reformatted and listed who said what in it and no infringement is intended. This will be a mini-chapter story, 2 maybe 3 chapters at most. To the Adventure! -Tim**

* * *

Paige pulled into her parking spot about fifteen minutes late after getting Ralph to Caltech and she swore looking at the clock. She hurriedly got out of the car and set the alarm before opening the door to the Garage and walking in. She was still pissed about Tim; she'd stripped her bed after he was gone and threw the bed covers into the washer before making her bed. Even then she couldn't sleep in the bed, her skin just crawled thinking about him there. Her couch was a poor substitute.

"Hey 197, she's late, you going to rake her over the coals like you did me?" Toby shouted across the Garage.

Walter looked up from his desk and he smiled as Paige came into view, "No."

Toby stared at him, "How's that fair?"

Walter slowly looked at the behaviorist, "Toby, how many times, this year alone, have you been late?"

Toby threw his hands up and scrunched his face at Walter, "What's that go to do with anything 197?"

Walter stood as he started to follow Paige into the kitchen, "Paige has only been late a few times since she started working here and every time it's been because of some situation dealing with getting Ralph to school. You on the other hand are always late because you can't be bothered to go to bed at a decent hour. Plus she is genuinely sorry and upset when she's late."

Walter smiled at Paige as she smiled shyly back and he poured them both a cup of coffee.

"Well there is something I need to tell to the whole group." Paige said aloud as she walked out of the kitchen with her coffee. "Last night after getting back home because I had to come back here to pick up Ralph's project for his class this morning, I found that Tim had somehow picked the lock on my door and was waiting on me to get home." Paige told them as they all walked over to her desk.

* * *

"Are you kidding me?" Walter's blood pressure shot up several points and he slammed his coffee mug on his desk and broken ceramic pieces shot across the area as coffee went flying all over. "Damn it," Walter shouted as he flung the hot coffee off his hand.

Paige gasped and quickly grabbed his arm and dragged him to the kitchen and began running cold water over his hand and she saw blood in the sink, "Walter, you cut your hand." Grabbing the first aid kit she opened it and pulled out the disinfectant, gauze, coflex and the burn gel.

With everyone staring at the uncharacteristic actions of Paige, Sylvester asked, "So what happened?" As they all stared and watched Paige care for Walter's cut and burn.

"Yea, where was he waiting for you?" Toby asked with a raised eyebrow.

Paige blushed looking at Walter, "That isn't important right now. What is important is, I made him leave and told him to go to Homeland first thing this morning and request they reassign him and not to ever come around any of us again."

"And how did that go over with Mr. Jock?" Toby asked eyeing her.

"Not well, he just said he would talk to me this morning here at the Garage." Paige told them. "I called Cabe and told him what happened and he said he would see to it that Tim was reassigned."

As she finished with Walter's hand Happy looked back at the front door and turned back and said, "I think someone missed the memo."

* * *

Paige and Walter walked around the corner and stopped as they saw Cabe standing by the door with Tim. "What the hell Cabe?" Paige demanded.

"Paige, I just want to say," Tim started and Cabe put his hand against his chest stopping him from moving any further forward.

"You shut up and don't speak again." Cabe told him from between clenched teeth.

Walter looked at the older agent, "Cabe?"

Cabe pulled off his sunglasses, "Sorry guys apparently Tim has some Navy contact that persuaded Monlina not to reassign him. I'm afraid we're stuck with him." Cabe told them.

Walter shook his head as he shoved his hands into his pockets, "No, we're not. What Tim did was completely disrespectful and unacceptable behavior. I agreed to his inclusion as a trial basis and the trial is over now. He goes."

"Unfortunately Molina says you can't invoke that now, it's been more than ninety days." Tim told him smugly.

Walter looked at Paige and saw the anguish on her face. He squared his shoulders, "Wipe that look off your face." He told Tim with heat in his voice and looked back at Cabe, "If I can't revoke his being here than I have no other choice but to exercise paragraph 9, sub section i. I hereby formally end Scorpion's affiliation with Homeland."

Everyone in the Garage gasped, "No, you can't do that." Tim nearly screamed.

"Shut up, if you are not off Scorpion property within the next five minutes I will call the police and have you forcibly removed. I will also be contacting the DA and asking for a restraining order against you personally." Walter told him.

Cabe reached up and pushed against Tim, "Get out now." Cabe turned back to look at Walter one last time, his mouth opened as if to say something.

"Cabe, one moment please." Walter told him. Walter looked at his friends, "Guys." They all stepped up next to him, "I need to speak with Cabe, privately, make sure Tim doesn't move from that spot."

Walter looked at Cabe, "I need a moment to speak with you."

* * *

Cabe nodded and began walking over as Walter turned and began walking towards the back of the Garage. He stopped as he didn't hear Paige walking behind him and he turned to see her looking at him, "Paige, I have some things to say to Cabe and I need to be sure I say them properly. I need you." He stressed the last heavily.

Paige slowly nodded as she followed along with Cabe, they watched as Walter walked to the far back wall and then stopped and turned to face Cabe. His hand twitched towards Paige and she stepped on up and stood next to him and Cabe smiled slightly seeing Walter take her hand into his.

"Walter, you don't need a translator for me son, I get you." Cabe told him.

Walter shook his head, "I don't need a translator, but I do need Paige," he paused and looked at her as if to leave it there but then continued as he looked back to Cabe, "To say what I have to say." Walter looked at Paige and she smiled encouragingly back at him.

"Cabe, I need you to understand this situation isn't about you. You are always welcomed here at Scorpion." Walter swallowed as he looked at Paige and she squeezed his hand a little tighter. "You are always welcomed in my life." Walter looked to Paige again and she nodded with tears in her eyes. "Because I love you, you've been the father I always wish I had. But Paige and her safety is far more valuable to me than any contract no matter what the pay is. Something for you to consider, I know you love your job, but if you ever want to leave Homeland, I would be happy to hire you to protect us. We've certainly needed it more than once."

Cabe smiled as he occasionally looked at their joined hands and he stepped up and wrapped an arm around both of them and hugged them, Walter flinched just a little but he bore the discomfort as Cabe spoke, "I love you son, you and Paige both and I appreciate all you just said. I might take you up on that offer one day. But I am hoping to work something out to get rid of Tim. So don't do something that we can't undo."

Walter nodded as he hugged Cabe with one arm. As they walked back up front Walter hadn't released Paige's hand by the time they reached the kitchen and she stopped and Walter stopped as he looked back at her with a question in his eyes.

* * *

"Walter, I didn't get to tell Tim about us last night I was just so mad. While I am not ashamed of you or us, He's clearly a bit more unstable than we ever knew and if he thinks we're together now he might do something even crazier." Paige told him.

Walter's eyes opened wide and he smiled, "You're brilliant." He kissed her in full view of the team and they all gasped. The kiss lingered and lingered and lingered some more then Walter moved quickly to his desk, "Cabe, one more moment please."

Cabe turned just before he reached the coffee table, "What's up kid?"

Walter sat down at his desk and pulled his copy of the Homeland contract out of the filing cabinet. He flipped through the pages and finally stopped. "If a member of team Scorpion is found to be mentally unstable that member will be removed from active case participation until they are found to be fit by no less than three psychologists including Dr Tobias Curtis. The same applies to any Homeland agent assigned to assist team Scorpion." He looked up at Toby, "This is your area of expertise, is he unstable?"

"I'd need to know more about what happened last night first." Toby answered looking at Paige.

"Do you? Or are you just trying to be a perve Doc? He sounds unstable just knowing what Paige told us," Happy told him.

Paige swallowed hard and looked at Walter, "I didn't want to tell you this part." Walter stood up and walked over to stand in front of Paige and looked deep into her eyes. "Nothing happened but it's…" She looked at Toby, and then back to Walter, "He was naked in my bed where he wasn't invited or welcomed."

* * *

"Not good," Happy said.

They all looked at Walter as they could almost smell something burning. "Yep, he's unstable and I will certify that right now." Toby said quickly trying to head off where Walter was going.

Walter turned to face Tim standing across the Garage, rage building within him, his hands began to open and close as his rage continued to build. Paige stepped over between Walter and the object of that hatred she saw growing in his eyes. "Please baby, don't. He's not worth it and we got our legal way to kick him out of Scorpion." She whispered.

Cabe slowly walked back over seeing the look on Walter's face, "Doc?"

Toby ran over to the small filing cabinet next to the couch and opened a drawer and dug through the file folders as fast as he could before reaching the one he wanted and pulled a form out from inside of it. He ran back over and grabbed Walter's pen out of his pocket and began scribbling.

Happy looked at Cabe, "You know, it's not my area of expertise as my reaction to bullshit like that is to punch and kick first but shouldn't that fall under the sexual harassment guidelines of Homeland?"

Cabe looked at Happy dumbfounded, "Why in the hell didn't I think of that? I'd say we got two big guns to get rid of him then."

* * *

Paige kept her face between Walter and Tim the entire time and slowly Walter's anger was dissipating as both of their worlds dwindled to just the two of them, the others could have left for Kovelsky's and neither of them would have noticed.

Toby finished scribbling and signed the form, "Paige I need you to counter sign this as liaison." Toby looked at Paige, "Paige, I said I need you to counter sign this." Paige continued to stare into Walter's eyes as he stared back into her eyes.

Cabe stepped up and gently placed his hand on her shoulder as he whispered, "Sweetheart, Toby needs you to sign this."

Paige nodded finally as she continued to look deep into Walter's eyes. "Baby, I have to move to read this and sign it so I need you to do something for me, please?"

"Anything for you," Walter echoed the words he told her last night.

"I need you to close your eyes and only imagine my face and then turn around and face the other way and do not turn back around until I say you can." Paige told him.

Walter nodded and closed his eyes and instantly Paige's face showed in his mind and he turned.

Paige breathed easier with tears in her eyes and reached out taking the form from Toby and read it. "Based on the facts that Mr. Armstrong not only broke into Ms Dineen's home but disrobed and crawled into her bed based on his disappointment of a failed romantic weekend I find that Mr. Armstrong is unstable and a clear and present danger to Ms Dineen and possibly others within team Scorpion and will seek out some kind of retribution as witnessed by his appeal to a military contact to pressure Director Molina from reassigning him over the situation. It is therefore in my professional opinion that he be removed from his current assignment and relocated to another Homeland office as far away as possible, perhaps in New Orleans. But he should have limited responsibilities wherever he is assigned until he's found to be competent again. He should never be assigned anyplace close to Ms Dineen or team Scorpion." Paige took Walter's pen and signed it and walked over to her desk and stamped the form and gave it to Cabe before stepping around in front of Walter and whispered for him to open his eyes.

Walter smiled looking into her beautiful eyes.

Cabe pulled out his phone and called Katharine Cooper and explained the situation and the form that Toby filled out. Cabe nodded as he confirmed her order. As he hung up, "Okay gang, Katharine is ordering his immediate departure, I've got to escort him back to Homeland and file this paperwork."

* * *

"So are we still Homeland contractors?" Sylvester asked nervously.

Toby looked at Sylvester, "How can you be that smart and that stupid at the same time?" "Ow," he exclaimed grabbing the back of his head.

"Don't insult my friend," Happy told him.

Cabe looked at the guys, "Okay I'm taking him back to Homeland now, Katharine is going to have a shrink follow up on this and promises to get him out of LA ASAP."

Everyone smiled and Walter just answered, "Thank you Cabe, we appreciate everything you do for us." He continued to look into Paige's eyes the entire time.

* * *

After the door to the Garage closed and they heard Cabe's SUV take off they turned to Walter and Paige, "Okay, spill, now." Toby almost demanded.

Walter smiled at Paige and gave her a tender kiss before he turned and walked into the kitchen and brought back a broom and dustpan and began sweeping up the broken pieces of his mug. "This is the part where you explain what's going on." Toby told him and Walter turned and walked back into the kitchen and then came back with the sponge mop and several towels and a cleaner they used for spills and began cleaning up the spilled coffee.

As he stood back up he saw all of them staring at him. "Yes?"

"What the hell is going on 197?" Toby asked.

"I got upset and made a mess and I am cleaning it up. What's it look like." Walter answered him and moved to the kitchen and cleaned the mop and then threw the towels in the dirty linen hamper.

As he turned he saw everyone standing in the kitchen still watching him, "Can I help you?" He asked slightly annoyed.

Toby pointed at Paige and back to him, "Spill, since when do you two disappear into each other like that, or when do you hold her hand like you were and since when do you kiss her like you did?"

Happy nodded, "Walt, normally I am unaffected by such things but I got to admit, that kiss was hot."

Toby looked at Happy, "What my kisses don't do it for you?"

"Not like that one." Happy told him straight up.

Paige blushed as Walter stood there refusing to give in for their entertainment. "Are we in high school or are we adult geniuses?"

"Oh no, you're not getting off that easy," Toby told him with some heat. "What's going on?" He demanded again.

Walter looked at everyone but Paige, "I'm going to say this one time as your boss and this is done. Paige and I had a long conversation last night when she came by to get Ralph's project for Caltech."

They stood there for several minutes staring at him as Toby gestured with his hands trying to get him to continue.

* * *

"Hey Walter, team Scorpion, are you here?" Richard Elia called out from by the front door.

Walter stepped up to Paige and took her hand in his while giving her a quick peck on the lips and walked past the others leading her out of the kitchen. "Richard, it's good seeing you."

Richard smiled as he saw Walter holding Paige's hand. "Oh good, Walter, I need your help."

After syncing Richard's tablet to the monitor tree he began detailing his space plan to try and get a contract from NASA.

_"What do you need from Scorpion? Walter asked._

_"Well," Richard clicked a button and the image shifted. "Recognize this?" Richard asked._

_"That's Walter's throttle design." Happy told him._

_"After you so generously open-sourced your rocket research, my guys adapted some of your best thinking to our bird." Richard told him._

_"Walt's throttle's revolutionary." Toby interjected._

_"That's what I thought, but it doesn't work." Richard told him._

_"I can assure you we have empirical evidence that it does." Sylvester spoke up._

_"I know that your private beach launch last Christmas was successful, but when we scaled it up to a much larger rocket, we found some instability issues." Richard told them._

_Walter became curious and started to move forward. _

_"Take a look," Richard encouraged him._

"Okay team, Happy, we'll have to take two cars, so you drive and take Toby with you, make sure you have any tools you think you might need." Walter told her.

"Hey, when do I get ordered around to what vehicle I travel in?" Toby got upset.

"You want me to hit you like I did earlier?" Happy asked.

"No," Toby said putting his hand behind his head.

"Then grab my toolbox and get in the truck, Walt doesn't need you trying to bug him and we don't need you getting fired." Happy told him.

"Walter, Ralph will need to be picked up and taken to middle school before long." Paige reminded him.

Walter smiled, "I hadn't forgotten. I figured we could pick him up first and take him to school and then go to Richard's airfield. It's actually not far from Ralph's middle school."

Paige nodded and then smiled as Walter took her hand again, "Do you need anything before we leave?" Walter asked.

Paige shook her head, "I got all I need right here." She told him squeezing his hand.

"Richard, we've got to make a stop first to pick up Ralph and take him to school so we'll meet you at your air field in about an hour." Walter told him as they walked up to him.

Richard smiled, "That's fine Walter. Thank you."


	2. Chapter 2

**Good afternoon! First I think I was wrong when I said this would be only 3 chapters max, it's looking like there is going to be at least 4 to bring this story to a close. This chapter is a little longer because I didn't want to leave it in a complete cliffhanger. I just don't like them. Yesterday wasn't a good day writing wise. While I had no problems getting this chapter done I only got about 2/3 of chapter 13 of the Betray story line done. I will finish it as quick as I can today and post it. **

**I may switch to a alternating schedule, one day this story and next day the other. If you read in one of my other stories my wife is of very poor health and I'm just going through some difficulties caring for her with my own health. Couple that with only getting maybe 5 hours avg of sleep a night for the last month and well, that's where I am. lol Telling the stories is too important for me so I don't plan to stop I just don't think I can continue the pace of writing 5k+ a day and then proofing and editing along with taking care of her. So thank you for understanding! **

**I really am enjoying this reimaging of season 3 and I am glad some of you have taken the time to say you are enjoying it too. It's difficult writing Tim in a bad light, I liked the character I just didn't like him interfering with Waige (yes, I am and will always be a Waige shipper). Plus he has the same first name and who wants to write bad things about someone with the same first name as them? **

**I have borrowed some of the dialogue directly from the show again using springfields website as a source for it. While editing it to account for Tim not being there and to alter how things play out based on this reimagining. Borrowed dialogue is italicized, some of the non-dialogue is too because I forgot to turn it off and I am too lazy to go back and fix it. LOL it's not that important I think. Anyway enough rambling, to the Adventure! -Tim**

* * *

As Walter drove his car with Paige beside him he'd actually turned on her favorite radio station and he occasionally tried to join in with her as she sung nearly every song they played. Sylvester sat in the back seat feeling extremely uncomfortable watching as Walter held her hand and she pretended to be singing into a microphone being held by that hand.

As a commercial break came up Paige reached up and turned the radio down a bit and Walter looked over puzzled but his muscles relaxed as she smiled at him. "I was thinking; we need to tell Ralph about us." Paige told him.

Walter nodded, "I think you are right. He deserves to know and express his feelings about it."

Paige smiled, "Do you really think he's going to express anything but joy?"

Walter frowned, "I hope not. Did you want to tell him on the way to his middle school?"

* * *

"Oh dear God, please no. You two are insufferable as you are. I can't handle how Ralph will react too." Sylvester spoke up.

Walter almost jerked as he looked into the rearview mirror having completely forgotten he'd told Sylvester to ride with them so he wouldn't be crowded into Happy's truck. Paige was similarly affected, "Sorry Sly, well actually that's a lie. I'm not sorry, but I am sorry you feel uncomfortable with us." Paige told him. Paige looked back at Walter, "No, I thought the three of us could go out to dinner tonight and we could tell him there. He was so mad about Tim last night. He had barely recovered this morning."

Walter nodded, "That sounds like a plan to me. This job shouldn't take that long, we should be done before time to pick up Ralph this evening.

* * *

Ralph climbed into the backseat behind Walter and as he fastened his seatbelt he looked up to his Mom as she asked, "How was class? What did your professor say about your project?"

Ralph smiled thinking she wanted to pretend everything was normal, "He said he liked it but it will be a week or so before I get my actual grade. Now what is going on about him?"

Walter looked at Paige as he pulled out onto the road, "Well I told everyone at the Garage what happened and to drive the point home to Homeland Toby filled out paperwork declaring him unstable and recommended his immediate transfer to another Homeland office possibly in New Orleans. Cabe is also going to bring me some harassment paperwork to fill out against him."

"Good," the young genius said as he looked out his window.

Paige smiled and looked at Walter and he smiled back at her when he saw her through the corner of his eye. His hand was itching to reach out to take hers; ever since he took her hand in the Garage in front of everyone he was craving physical contact with her.

Twice he reached out and then retracted his hand just before their hands met. He was worried about forcing the conversation early when Paige seemed to decide it was okay and reached over and took his hand in hers.

Ralph had seen Walter reach out both times and then saw his Mom take his hand in hers and he turned his head to look out the window with a huge smile on his face. If they weren't ready to tell him just yet it was okay with him.

* * *

Toby was being extremely quiet for him, well actually anyone and it was distracting as Happy drove them to Richard's airfield. She finally asked, "Something on your mind Doc?"

"Why would there be something on my mind?" Toby said sarcastically.

"Because normally you can't stop talking and making all kinds of stupid comments." Happy told him.

"Well maybe learning my kisses suck compared to a guy who hasn't even had sex yet changed me." Toby told her.

"That's all it took to get your to shut up, really? I guess I should have said that a long time ago then." Happy joked.

"Ha ha, very funny, kick a man while he's down." Toby grumped.

"Hey Nimrod, it's not how well Walter kissed Paige that was so hot. It was how when they kissed the rest of us ceased to exist. Hell when they were just staring into each other's eyes Paige couldn't even hear you talking to her three feet away from her, talking as loud as you were. If Cabe hadn't of physically touched her we'd still be waiting on her to sign that form." Happy told him.

"Hey, I can kiss you anywhere and not care who sees us too." Toby defended himself.

Happy shook her head, "You still don't get it. It wasn't hot because they didn't care we were there. It was like as they kissed a magician made each one of us vanish and all that was left was them and their kiss.

"So you're saying that my kisses are better than Walter's and they just have some weird chemistry?" Toby asked.

"Why do you have to try and quantify everything?" Happy asked.

"Because I am a scientist and scientists like everything measured and labeled." Toby told her.

Happy shook her head, "Yes, you kiss better, it's just some weird chemistry they have. But if you try and rub that in with Walter I'm going to measure and label something you value into a jar and keep them on a shelf."

Toby swallowed hard and nodded.

* * *

Walter and Toby had got into it in Mission Control when Walter had said he wanted Paige with Happy and him in the capsule. Happy smacked Toby in the back of his head again but Toby refused to stop and finally demanded they speak in private.

They walked outside of the building. They removed their coms. "Walter, there is no logical reason for Paige to be with you in the rocket."

"I might need to say something she'd need the context for in order to properly translate it for me." Walter said.

"Who's she going to translate to? It's us man, we get you. Well most of the time but if we aren't getting you, you can be assured she isn't getting you." Toby told him.

"You're wrong; Paige gets me far more than you think. She's just had problems getting through my nonsense, no one can translate that." Walter looked off into the distance.

"Look, Walt, I get it, you are jonesing for her really bad and I mean catastrophically bad, but try and think clearly for a moment. Every time you've been near her today your thoughts are out the window and we're here to do a job, a very well paying job I might add. If she's out there with you, Happy is going to have to be dumping cold water on you every few minutes to keep you focused and that isn't good. You'll be able to hear her voice and speak to her through the intercom or our coms." Toby told him.

Walter thought about it and he knew he was right but he still didn't want to admit that or give in. Slowly he nodded his head. Toby clapped him on the back as they started to turn to go back inside when Cabe pulled up and parked.

"Tim's on the Homeland shuttle to New Orleans guys. When Katharine read your form she lost it and marched in on Molina and demanded that she enforce the rules and at least transfer him out." Cabe smiled real big, "It was a sight to behold let me tell you. Reminded me when Molina got sassy with the President that day." He told them as they walked inside.

* * *

"Cabe? What's up? Is something wrong?" Paige asked almost with fear.

Cabe smiled and shook his head, "Tim's somewhere over eastern California on his way to New Orleans. We don't have to worry about him anymore."

Walter walked up and took Paige's hands in his and looked into her eyes, "Do you mind staying here while I go to the rocket? Toby made a good point about my focus; I can't seem to concentrate on anything else right now when you are near, of course I don't know how well I'll focus knowing you aren't there with me either."

Paige smiled, "I do mind, but I'll do it for the job." She winked at him.

"Okay, Walt, let's get out to the rocket, daylight's burning." Happy told him, as lightly as they had spoke to each other, they forgot they had coms in and every word was broadcasted clearly to the others. Happy finally just grabbed Walter's arm and pulled him away from Paige and towards the door.

* * *

_"No way the problem's your throttle. I bet it's their valve system." Happy told Walter._

_"Well, we'll soon find out." Walter responded._

As the test ran Happy pulled out her coms and showed Walter who followed suit and he reached over and turned off the intercom.

"Walt, I'm really happy for you with Paige, I really am but you know you have to tell her the truth right?" Happy asked.

Walter looked over at her with puzzlement on his face, "The truth? What are you talking about?"

"About us, being married, she'll understand if you explain it to her now but if you drag out telling her or let her find out some other way she'll barbeque your chestnuts. Just don't let Toby find out, he'll be the exact opposite." Happy told him.

* * *

_"So this contract you're competing for, what is it? Giving rides to NASA until they get their own manned program back up and running?" _Paige asked.

_"It's like Space Uber," Toby joked._

_"Our sights are set a little higher. Private companies like ours are the future of space exploration. See, we intend to take the next giant leap for mankind." Richard told Paige._

_"Put a man on Mars." Cabe said with a smile._

_"Or a woman," Paige added as Cabe nodded his head to her._

_"A whole colony, actually. And Walter's throttle could play a big part." Richard corrected them._

_"That's why I saw the news van outside. A little PR for your company's ego?" Toby said sarcastically. _

_"A little PR never hurt anybody, Toby. Besides, Scorpion should get some good press if Walter can get everything going." Richard told him._

_"He'll fix it. He always does." Paige said _with pride in her voice_._

* * *

Walter nodded as he thought about it when his tablet beeped.

_"Diagnostics complete. Checking the results." Walter said as he pushed several commands on the tablet. He looked over to Happy with a whimsically smug look on his face._

_"Told you." Happy exclaimed with a slight smile._

_"I'll head to __Mission__ Control, pick up the proper valves." Happy told him._

"To prove it; I'm going to shut down the excess values through the software and run some tests while you're gone." Walter told her.

"Copy that," Happy told him as she left.

* * *

Happy got to her truck and took off for Mission control. "Hey guys, Walter's test showed that Elia's dumb engineers redundant valve system is destroying Walter's throttle ratio."

Happy didn't hear anything and then realized her coms was out. She pulled out her coms and stuck it back in her ear. "Hey guys, Walter's test showed that Elia's dumb engineers redundant valve system is destroying Walter's throttle ratio."

_"Our experts advised us to put that in to protect against standard instability below 60% of thrust." Richard explained._

"There won't be any instability, and Walter can prove it; he's turning off the excess valves and running another test while I am headed back to pick up the proper valves." Happy told them.

* * *

_"Looks like you guys are gonna be here for a while. I'll have my assistant order lunch. Is Greek okay?" Richard asked._

_"Anything's fine. Thank you." Cabe spoke up first._

_"As long as it has an A rating from the Board of Health." Sylvester added with a smile._

_Richard smiled, "Understood." _He pulled out his phone as he walked out of the room.

There was a crack of thunder and Happy looked into her rear view mirror.

_"Sly, what does the radar look like?" Happy asked._

_"On it. Oh, boy, big storm coming in." Sylvester said._

_"Rockets are giant lightning rods. We better get Walt out of that tin can." Happy warned._

_"Hey, Walt, you hear that weather report?" Sylvester asked. "Hello? Walter?"_

_You copy, kid?" Cabe asked. Cabe reached up and touched his coms, "Walter!" _

"Oh man, I needed to talk privately to Walt about something and we took our coms out and he turned off the intercom. He must have forgotten to put his coms back in." Happy told them.

_"Happy, it'd probably be prudent for you to go back there and get him out until this storm clears." Cabe told her._

_"Roger that." Happy responded and turned her truck around._

There was a flash of lightning and a crack of thunder and then another bolt quickly followed striking the rocket and warning sirens went off as the engines fired.

_"Oh, boy, oh, boy oh, boy!" Sylvester exclaimed _

_"What's happening?" Richard asked as he ran back in._

_"The engines fired, and I can't shut 'em down. Lightning must have struck the connections." Sylvester explained._

_"Can Walter do it on his end?" Toby asked as he watched the computer screen in front of him._

_"Not likely. The fact that they are firing proves that the lightning struck the open circuit that Walter was working on. The whole thing got fried. That sucker is gonna launch." Sylvester told them._

_"Guys, that sucker's gonna launch." Happy advised them._

_"Oh, man, this sucker's gonna launch." Walter fretted._

_"There's an escape slide if he can exit the hatch, cross the gantry and get into the bunker." Richard told them._

_"Wait, does Walter have time for that?" _Paige asked with fear in her voice.

_"Math is not in his favor. He needs to make a decision." Sylvester said in a matter of fact tone._

* * *

_"T-minus 25 seconds to launch." The computer advised in a robotic feminine voice._

"Wait, why is he closing the hatch?" Paige asked in fear.

"Because he knows if he launches without it closed he's dead. Toby told her.

Walter scrambled for the seats for the astronauts and began strapping himself in. A fact he'd remembered from his youth came to mind about Apollo 12 and he struggled to reach over and hit the reboot switch for the capsule's computer system.

The rocket began lifting off and Walter felt the pressure of g forces when he realized something and he unhooked his belts and struggled to climb over to the middle seat and stretched across the third seat and hit the cabin pressurization switch and he heard air rush into the cabin and he slid on into the seat and started strapping himself back down again as he watched the computer screen desperate for the reboot to finish.

Finally the computer rebooted and he reached over to hit the abort button when the screen flashed a warning on the parachute system and his hand froze. He tried calling the team to warn them but the intercom was off and they weren't responding. "Don't abort, please don't abort." Walter almost begged.

The computers in Mission control switched over and showed the computers aboard the rocket had rebooted. "I'm hitting the abort button." Richard said and ran over to the console as everyone else cheered.

He turned the key and raised the glass cover from over the button and as his hand came down, Happy screamed, "No, don't do it." She jumped over to stop him but she stopped and just stared as his hand was pressing the button down. "You killed him," Happy said looking back up at him.

* * *

Paige turned, "What?" Tears pooled up in her eyes.

"The parachute package was fried in the lightning strike and he hit the abort button. The capsule is being ejected from the rocket right about now and will begin to plummet back to Earth without a parachute in about two minutes as inertia slows." Happy fell to the floor crying and Toby quickly moved over to check on her.

"No, Walter," Paige cried and Cabe stepped up and wrapped her in his arms as they both began crying.

* * *

Walter felt the capsule shutter and shake and then a small explosion as it separated from the engine modules and began to fall back to Earth. Walter closed his eyes and Paige's face instantly filled his mind as tears ran down the side of his face. "I'm so sorry Paige, I squandered the time we were given and now, now I will never be your husband and you will never be my wife." Walter said.

At first his mind was calculating how much time he left from the facts of the velocity of the capsule, time traveled from take off, acceleration speed, it's inertia carried over from the engines, its weight and Earth's gravitational constant but he stopped, whatever time he had left he wanted it spent solely thinking about Paige.

* * *

Everything went black.

* * *

Pain, so much pain, more pain than he'd ever felt before, he cried out. "Its okay baby, you're going to be okay." He heard soft feminine voice say to him.

"Baby?" he questioned. "P-P-Paige?" He scarcely got out.

"Yes baby, I'm here, right here." Paige told him, squeezing his hand.

"I-I'm sorry, I, I hurt, horribly." Walter told her.

"I know baby, I know, they cut back on your morphine but it's almost time and it will dispense in a moment and the pain will ease. I promise." Paige told him.

"No, no, I just need you. I can deal with the pain as long as I got you with me. Please, please don't let them give me the morphine." Walter pleaded.

"I'm not going anywhere baby, not until you walk out of here." Paige told him as she gently caressed the side of his face. "But you should take the morphine to help." She told him.

Walter pressed his head into her hand and he cried out in pain. "Don't move baby please, please don't move." Paige cried with him, "Your muscles around your C5 thru C7 and T4 thru T9 and your L1 thru L5 are badly strained from the damage you took from the concussive blast."

"I don't understand; how am I alive? The parachute package was damaged in the lightning strike. I should have died on impact." Walter asked as the pain slightly dimmed when he quit moving.

"Baby, don't you remember? You ran out of the capsule and just before you got the door on the bunker closed the concussive blast of the engines firing struck the door and it knocked you about twenty feet through the air and so hard into the opposite wall. We thought you were dead. Thankfully Sly was able to get the emergency blast door to drop before too much of the exhaust and flames made it into the bunker. But, you were still hurt so bad. Subjected to oxygen deprivation for several minutes and you have minor burns on twenty percent of your body." Paige told him as bravely as she could.

"Am I blind?" Walter asked. For a moment he was thankful for his eidetic memory as he could recall her beautiful face in exquisite detail even if he was.

Paige bent down and kissed his lips, "You suffered minor burns to your face but your vision should be fine when the bandages come off."

"Are we alone? I don't hear anyone else." Walter asked.

Paige smiled, "For now, the guys went to get something to eat with Ralph."

"Ralph's here? How long have I been unconscious?" Walter asked.

"Five very long days baby." Paige told him pressing her hand firmly into his cheek so he wouldn't turn his head. "I've missed you so much. You've had moments when you spoke but you weren't coherent at all." Paige told him.

"Paige, there's something I need to tell you if we are alone." Walter told her. Walter heard a beep from piece of equipment. "What was that?" He asked.

"That was the morphine pump; there was no way to stop it." Paige told him.

"Paige I need you to know, to try and stay in the country Happy agreed to marry me to help me get my green card." Walter said quickly as he felt the bitter medicine infiltrate his brain. "But, please understand, it, it," Walter's thoughts faltered as the morphine coursed through his head. "It, it wasn't, wasn't any-thing."

"I know baby, you already confessed." Paige told him as he passed out.

* * *

Paige sat back down and smiled at Walter as she held his hand. His Dr walked in, "Walter was just awake Dr. Froud." Paige told her.

She smiled, "Good, how was his memory?"

Paige nodded, "Well we didn't have much time to talk before the morphine kicked in. But he still remembered my son and me and the guys. He was a little confused he didn't seem to recall he had run into the bunker but was in the rocket when it launched and he thought he crashed and died because the parachute was damaged."

Dr Froud nodded, "That's not bad. With oxygen deprivation as bad as it was he's likely to have invented new memories to replace what really happened. I wouldn't worry too much. His real memories will come back as long as it wasn't too bad. Next time he wakes up get the nurse in here as quickly as you can so we can interrupt the pump to test him a little more to be sure what he remembers. But I'll go ahead and turn it down a little to see if we can't find a spot where it helps but doesn't knock him out completely."

"Are you sure his vision is going to be okay?" Paige asked slightly fearful.

Dr Froud smiled, "Yes, his eyelids protected them from the fire completely. We should be able to remove the bandages in another week."

Paige breathed a sigh of relief, "I know he would be able to deal with being blind if he was but I don't know how I would ever get over not being able to look deep into his eyes and know he wasn't looking deep into mine."

Richard walked into Walter's room with some balloons, he saw Paige, "Oh Paige, I'm sorry I thought you were downstairs with everyone else, at least that is what the desk said. I'll come back later."

"Richard? Don't be silly, please sit down." Paige grabbed his arm before he walked back out the door. "Why would you come here and leave because I am here?" Paige asked.

"Toby and the guys really chewed me out, blaming me. I didn't want to cause anymore problems I just wanted to visit with Walter for a moment. I'm really sorry. I didn't mean for Walter to get hurt." Richard told her with tears in his eyes.

Paige reached out and hugged him, "I'm sorry the guys did that. I'll put my foot in their asses when they get back here. You are not at fault. You didn't cause this to happen. If anything it's our fault for not checking the weather before Walter went out there. I'm very thankful for all you are doing for Walter."

Richard smiled, "It's the very least I could do. Seems like whenever we're together for you guys to work on something it goes wrong."

Paige laughed telling him, "Walter was awake a few minutes ago for about five minutes."

Richard looked at her with hope, "Really? That's great, how was he?"

Paige grew sad, "He was in so much pain, he never complains about pain but he was about this pain. But he didn't want the morphine; he wanted to be able to talk to me instead. I made the mistake of touching his cheek and he tried to turn his head into my hand to feel my touch better and it caused him even more pain."


	3. Chapter 3

**I think I am enjoying this story far too much. To the Adventure! -Tim**

* * *

Five days ago:

_"There's an escape slide if he can exit the hatch, cross the gantry and get into the bunker." Richard told them._

_"Wait, does Walter have time for that?" _Paige asked with fear in her voice.

_"Math is not in his favor. He needs to make a decision." Sylvester said in a matter of fact tone._

_"T-minus 25 seconds to launch." The computer advised in a robotic feminine voice._

"Look, he's exited the capsule and is running across the gantry!" Cabe shouted.

"This is going to be close," Sylvester said as he watched, his brilliant mind calculating every second Walter's feet remained in contact with the ground before pushing off, the remaining distance to the slide, gravitational pull, friction of the slide against Walter's body weight, the fabric of his clothes natural resistance to slipping with the surface of the slide as Walter ran as fast as he could.

Finally, "He's in the slide!" Richard shouted.

"Damn it Walter, hurry up man the main thrust is about to start." Toby said quietly.

"What does that mean?" Paige asked unable to look away from the video feed.

"If he can't get in the bunker and get the door closed before the main thrust starts," Happy slapped Toby's head.

"He'll be killed by the blast and we'll leave it at that." Happy finished.

* * *

Sylvester kicked back against the floor and his chair rolled backwards quickly over to another console and he flipped a key and opened a glass cover over a red button next to it.

"Sly, what are you doing son?" Cabe asked.

"This button will close an emergency blast door on the bunker. In case Walter can't close the door in time, I'll hit the button. It'll be his only protection." Sly told him.

They watched as Walter pushed the door opened and jumped inside and he twisted shoving the door back closing it, but as he started bringing the handle down to secure the door the main thrust ignited and the blast struck the door with tremendous force. The door blew off its hinges and Walter and the door went flying backwards in different directions and Paige screamed in horror as Walter slammed into the far wall. "Sly, damn it, hit the button." Toby yelled at him.

Sylvester temporarily frozen by the horrific scene he was watching, he finally hit the button and the blast door was driven down into place by powerful motors almost instantly. But not before a huge amount of rocket exhaust and fire from the engines swarmed into the chamber burning out the cameras.

* * *

"Happy, Walt is in serious trouble, you're closest, you got to get in there as quickly as you can." Toby yelled.

"Copy that, Richard there has to be emergency O2 tanks out here." Happy demanded as she sat reviving the engine on her truck just waiting for the worst of the fire and smoke to clear.

"There's an emergency supply inside the bunker but there's a problem." Richard told them.

Happy stared ahead and threw her hands up, "Which is?" She demanded.

"The blast door is an emergency measure. It takes a special wrench to open it and I'm looking at it here in the control room." Richard told her with a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"Happy, I'll meet you out there with the wrench." Cabe yelled as he grabbed it and ran for the front door followed closely by Paige and Toby.

"To hell with that," Happy yelled back. The smoke and fire hadn't cleared by much and Happy gunned her truck and popped the clutch and the truck tore off at a blistering speed as she shifted through each gear building as much speed as she could. She watched her speed and calculated the remaining distance, she knew she needed as much speed as she could generate to have enough forced to bust down the door. She flew through the clouds of exhaust and fire holding her breath trusting on her calculations and her driving skills, "3, 2, 1," Happy counted and suddenly she cut the wheel hard and the truck spun and just as the truck had spun halfway around the forward momentum thrust the backend hard into the building.

The rest of the team heard her count down and then the scream of the trucks tires on the tarmac, punctuated by a loud crashing impact.

The truck slammed into the corner of the door, the seams super heated by the rocket's blast off gave way to the impact and busted through the side of the bunker wrenching the door off its lower track. Toby yelled out, "Happy?"

* * *

It took Happy a moment to shake off the impact. As she began coughing and choking from the smoke and fumes as the fireball finally dissipated, she pushed in the clutch and struggled to get the truck to start but the exhaust fumes were too thick and the truck wasn't getting enough oxygen to start as she continued choking. Realizing she was wasting too much time she jumped out of the cab and jumped into the bed of the truck and slid under the door into the room.

She saw the cabinet with the emergency oxygen and she ran over coughing and choking and grabbed a canister and slipped on the mask and turned the air supply on. She grabbed a second can and moved around the room and finally found Walter crumpled on the floor. She knelt down next to him and quickly got the mask on him and turned the air supply on. "Come on Walt; say something, anything, especially nerdy, let me know you are okay." Happy told him. Tears ran down her face as she saw his hair had been singed off and he had burns on his head and face. "Richard, is there a first aid kit in here?" Happy asked but it came out more like demanding.

"Should be right next to the oxygen," Richard told her.

"Happy, how is he?" Paige demanded.

"Not good and I am not a medical professional to answer that question. He's not going to need a barbershop for a while though." Happy told her as she dug several kits out and started to move back over to Walter.

"Wait, what's that supposed to mean?" Paige asked.

"I'm busy here," Happy responded. Walter's shirt, pants and boxers were thankfully cotton and not some polyester blend and had mostly burnt off instead of melted but he still had burns everywhere on the back of his body. As Happy made her way back over Sylvester finally got the exhaust fans working and the room was clearing of smoke. Happy saw more of Walter than she ever thought she'd see and she quickly pulled her work shirt off and threw it over his lower half. "Sorry Walt, but I don't need Doc going bonzo over that." Happy whispered as she opened the first aid kit.

"You don't need me going bonzo over what?" Toby asked.

Happy rolled her eyes; she hadn't realized she actually said that loud enough for the coms to pick up.

"Oh my God, Happy are you okay?" Paige asked as they clearly saw her truck sticking halfway out of the side of the bunker.

"I'm fine, Walt needs an ambulance." Happy answered her.

"Lifeline is in route already Happy, should be there in the next five minutes." Richard told her.

"Happy, is the building safe enough for me to move your truck?" Cabe asked.

"Yes, the structure of the building is fine." Happy answered as she looked around at the supports.

* * *

Cabe pulled up next to Happy's truck and jumped out and jumped into the cab and started the truck as Paige leapt over the side of the bed of her truck and quickly rolled her way under the door and off the bed of the truck as Cabe put the truck in gear and eased out the clutch and pulled out from the building. "Walter!" Paige exclaimed and ran over and dropped to her knees next to him.

"Don't move him," Happy cautioned her. "He could have serious damage to something and it could cause more problems.

She watched as Happy was spraying Walter's back with burn spray, "Don't just sit there, grabbed another can and spray under my shirt." Happy told her.

Paige looked at her, "Hey, he's your boyfriend, unless you want Doc to do it."

Paige shook her head as she grabbed the can from one of the other first aid kits Happy brought over.

Toby ducked under the door and ran over and dropped down next to Walter, "Holy evil genius," Toby exclaimed.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Sylvester asked.

Paige moved down to Walter's legs and took a breath and lifted Happy's shirt up exposing Walter's ass. Despite the seriousness of the situation Paige couldn't help but to take a moment to admire the sight before her eyes. She took another breath and began spraying, because of his boxers his ass wasn't burned quite as bad as the back of his legs from his slacks but she still paid a good amount of attention to it. Paige looked up and saw Happy looking at her and then Happy winked and went back to spraying his arms.

"Happy's right, he's not going to need a barbershop for a good while." Toby answered Sylvester as he began checking his vitals and then gently feeling his way down Walter's spine. "Vitals are good, his spine feels okay, but I don't like how most of the muscles feel. The impact with the wall must of really strained them." He felt down his arms and his ribs as best he could without moving him.

He reached to move Happy's shirt and Paige looked at him, "He's fine." She told him.

Toby looked into her eyes, "Paige, I still need to assess him, it's kind of my job."

Paige finally nodded but she watched his every move as he poked and prodded along his hips and down his legs.

"How is he?" Cabe called out as he came in under the door.

"Surprisingly not as bad as I feared, between Sly getting that blast door down and Happy getting into this place and getting him oxygen I think he'll be okay in a few weeks." Toby answered.

"Lifeline is here," Cabe called out as he looked back outside hearing the copter.

Paige looked up, "Weeks?"

Toby nodded.

* * *

There was a brief argument when Paige tried to climb onto the copter and Cabe settled it in the normal Gallo fashion, "Do it or your ass is going to meet my foot." Cabe told the medics.

Richard finally arrived with Sylvester as the copter was leaving and Toby and Happy began reading him the riot act, blaming him personally for the failures that almost cost Walter his life. Cabe and Richard's driver stepped in immediately and shut them down and Richard quickly got into his car and his driver took him back to his office.

Paige sat beside the bed all day, everyday, only stepping away when she had to use the restroom. In the evenings when everyone left the staff came in and moved things around so her bed was up against Walters and she could lie beside him as she slept.

It was on the third day as Toby had predicted when Walter finally showed some life beyond simple readouts of the medical equipment, he'd started with simple grumblings, unintelligent noises. Later that day words came periodically. Paige just sat there smiling at him listening to the random words, most of the time they were her name, sometimes words of love, sometimes Ralph or Cabe. That evening as the gang came back from eating bringing Paige her order they stopped in their tracks and Paige sat up straight.

"What did he just say?" Toby demanded.

Paige shook her head, "Had to be nonsense or I couldn't have heard what I thought I heard." She said. But then Walter explained what he said.

"Paige, I have to tell you, you need to know. A number of years ago, right after I formed Scorpion and found Happy, CIS was going to deport me. Happy didn't want me to be deported so she married me. It was never romantic or sexual; she just pretended to be my wife so I could get my green card." Walter finished.

All eyes turned to Happy and Happy looked around, "How about those Yankees?"

Paige nearly snorted at the joke Happy made.

"Oh, you think this is funny do you? Well jokes on you too, that's your boyfriend confessing to a secret marriage." Toby got snotty. "And when he wakes up I'm going to knock him right back out again."

"What makes you think I'll let you?" Happy eyed him. Toby stared at Happy; finally she grabbed his collar and dragged him out of Walter's room and out of the hospital.

* * *

Present day:

Richard tried to leave several times but Paige refused to let him. "Richard, you care about Walter, Walter considers you a friend. You have a right to be here. I am not going to allow them to chase you away." Paige told him.

They heard Toby's mouth coming down the hall and Paige stood up and stepped over and blocked the door. They all stopped and looked at her. "Explanation, now," Paige told them looking at Toby and Happy.

Happy and Toby looked at each other and then back to Paige, "About what?"

"Why you both were complete asses to Richard. You know damn good and well that what happened to Walter was not his fault and yet you both berated him and made him feel bad. That's completely unacceptable." Paige told them.

"Hey, in our defense, at the time we were both worried about our friend's life. Maybe we over reacted." Toby offered as defense.

"Not good enough, you both are geniuses. Now since Walter isn't able to decide on a course of action and as office/project manager your both going to come in here and humbly apologize to Richard this minute." Paige told them.

Toby opened his mouth to say something and Happy slapped his head, "We're in enough trouble."

"You'd think since we saved her boyfriend we'd get a little slack." Toby whispered to Happy as they walked into the room.

"You got a little slack; I didn't fire you for mouthing off to our client." Paige told him.

"Good point," Toby said as they saw Richard sitting there.

Toby groveled pretty well and Happy simply replied "Ditto."

Ralph hugged his Mom, "They had the fish you like Mom so I got that for you."

Paige smiled, "Thank you Baby."

Cabe, Allie, Richard, Happy and Toby sat playing cards while Sylvester doubled checked Ralph's work for his quantum mechanics class at Caltech. Ralph sat there silently working on a programming job that Walter hadn't yet finished for a Scorpion client that was almost due. Paige continued to sit beside Walter's bed holding his hand. It was almost two hours since Walter's Dr turned the morphine down. "Uh, oh, I, I-I hurt." Walter said.

Paige sat forward closer to the bed, "Baby?"

Walter heard her voice, "P-Paige?" His head turned towards the sound of her voice and he cried out in pain.

"Baby, please baby, you've got to stop moving." Paige told him as she cried from his pain.

Walter grimaced as he tried to nod his head, "You're still here? Thank you, I love you."

"Of course I'm still here baby, I love you. We're all here sweetheart and I'm not leaving until you are able to leave here. Your Dr turned down the morphine in hopes you might start having more lucid moments but not as much pain." Paige told him.

Walter tried to nod his head again but he instantly cried out. Paige grimaced in pain with him, "Baby, remember, don't move. Please. It's only going to hurt more if you do. Ralph's here on your other side, holding your right hand."

"He-Hey Buddy, how are you?" Walter asked.

"I'm okay, I'd be better if you weren't hurting so much." Ralph told him.

"Thanks buddy; you're-you're holding my hand?" Walter asked.

"He is, just like I am. Do you not feel me holding your hand?" Paige asked worriedly looking at Toby.

"I think so," Walter lied.

Toby stood up, "Hey Walt, are you having any problems breathing?"

"A little, were my lungs injured by the smoke and fire?" Walter asked.

"No, they showed clear on the X-ray." Toby told him as he moved up next to Ralph. "Hey Buddy; I want you to do me a favor. I'm going to touch your foot and run my finger up your leg. You just tell me as soon as you feel it okay?"

Walter started to nod and stopped almost immediately, "O-Okay."

"Here we go," Staying clear of any burns Toby pressed his nail hard, against Walter's foot, digging it down into his flesh and started dragging it slowly up his leg, periodically raising it off his body and moving up and setting it back down continuing up his leg.

Paige's lip began quivering at the red irritation mark that came up on Walter's leg every place Toby's nail ran along. Walter felt panic, he wasn't getting any sensation, "I felt that," Walter told him in desperation.

They all stared as Toby's finger was five inches above his leg. "Hey, that's awesome buddy. I'm going to have to speak to your Dr but I think what we got is a simple case of nerve confusion."

"Nerve confusion?" Walter asked.

"Yea, it's a fairly new diagnosis. It's similar to conversion disorder." Toby looked at Cabe, "They use to call it hysterical paralysis," he looked back at Walter, "But instead of the mind tricking someone it misinterprets the signals sent by the nerves." Toby told him while shaking his head no to everyone else. He walked around the bed and stepped out into the hallway.

Paige wiped the tears from her eyes, "Hey baby, remember that project for Ralph's class? He got an A for it."

Walter smiled, "That's my boy, good job."

Ralph struggled for a moment, "Thank you Walter."

"Paige?" Walter whispered very softly and she bent down close to his face.

"Yes baby?" Paige asked.

Walter puckered his lips and Paige smiled and kissed him. "Sorry, I can't see or move to kiss you. So you're going to have to do all the work for now." Walter tried to tease with her.

* * *

Cabe followed Toby out into the hallway, "Okay, spill Doc."

Toby looked at him, "While it's possible that Walter is experiencing morphine paralysis it's possible it's conversion disorder. The former is easier to treat the latter could take quite some time."

"But it's not something more serious like a severed spinal cord?" Cabe asked in relief.

Toby shook his head, "That would have shown up before now. We've got to stop his morphine though. And he's going to be in a lot more pain."

"Damn it Doc," Cabe almost yelled and then looked around and lowered his voice, "You just scared the crap out of all of us thinking he isn't going to move again."

"I'm sorry, that wasn't my intention, I just don't know how we're going to treat his pain without the morphine." Toby told him as Allie joined them.

"Guys, Walter heard that and you got him, Paige and Ralph upset." Allie told them as she took Cabe's arm.

Cabe shook his finger at Toby and then turned and marched into the room followed by Allie, "Walt, sorry son, Paige, Ralph I didn't mean to upset you. Toby left out some important information. He thinks you have morphine paralysis. Which means the Dr is going to have to stop your morphine but that is going to increase your pain level drastically."

"Stop it, I don't want it. I just want Paige." Walter told him.

Paige smiled as she pressed her hand firmly against his cheek. His head pushed back slightly so she knew he could feel it as he struggled not to show the pain on his face.

"Son, it's going to hurt like hell, your laying on most of your burns." Cabe told him.

"Yea and just so you know Walt, you got a really cute birthmark on your left butt cheek." Happy told him.

Paige felt a twinge of irrational anger remembering that Happy had seen Walter without clothes.

What they could see of Walter's face he blushed as he asked, "How do you know?"

"I was the first one to get to you and all your cotton had been burned off." Happy told him with a grin on her lips.

Walter's face deepened to a darker shade of red as did Paige's. "Neurontin should be enough, perhaps eighteen hundred mgs every eight hours." Walter told them.

"If that's what you want Walter, I'll make them do it." Richard told him.

Walter started to turn his head in shock "Richard?" He said as he grimaced in pain.

"Baby, please try to not move." Paige pleaded with him. "Richard came to see you." She told him. "Maybe we need some kind of board to hold your head straight so you don't hurt yourself accidentally." Paige asked.

"It's okay Paige; I'll do better about moving my head once the morphine is out of my system." Walter told her with a smile. "Sorry about your rocket, is this going to impact your contract with NASA?" Walter asked worriedly.

"Walter, don't worry about that." Richard told him.

"I am worried about it, it happened on my watch." Walter told him.

Richard smiled, "Walter, I sent our data to NASA already. They were very sorry to hear what happened and they gave us an extension because they were impressed with what the rocket did even with the capsule open. They think we're on the right track."

Walter smiled.


	4. Chapter 4

Twelve Days ago:

"Happy, what are you doing?" Toby demanded as she dragged him into the elevator and hit the button for the ground floor. She stood there silent and refusing to release his collar.

A couple of Drs stepped onto the elevator a couple of floors down but Happy ignored them and held onto Toby's jacket collar as Toby's cheeks blushed. As the doors opened on the ground floor Happy dragged him out and through the side doors to the small garden area meant for people reflecting.

"What is your problem?" Toby demanded as she finally stopped and released his jacket.

Happy glared at him, "Look Nimrod," Happy began with a tear in her eye. "Walter was my only friend back then. He was the only person who cared about me. He saw through my bullshit and reached out and brought me into Scorpion. Granted his next move was monumentally stupid bringing in that waste of skin Collins, but I was not about to lose my best friend." Happy looked around and said softly, "So I married him so he could stay in this country and I could stay in Scorpion." Her voice returned to normal level, "You can be all pissy if you want but understand this, if I hadn't of married Walter, you and I, we never would have met. Much less fell in love. So as far as I am concerned it's been a win-win and one hundred percent worth it. Had I known you were getting to this point I could have handled this differently, as it were, I thought we had a few years. Years that would have seen Walter get his citizenship and we could get our divorce. But in true Toby fashion you had to jump the gun."

Toby nodded, "I get that, what I don't get is why you couldn't just tell me?"

Happy looked around again, "What? Advertise that I committed immigration fraud," she whispered. "Get real, besides if I had told you then you would have flown off the handle and went after Walter then and there and I wasn't having my best friend and the man I love beat each other silly or have to step in myself and beat you both silly."

"I'm saying if you had just told me, even privately this could have been handled differently." Toby told her.

"Yea right, you're so insecure you'd pee around the stool I am sitting on if you thought people would let you get away with it. I'm not a possession, I'm a person, and I make the choices concerning me. And I chose you. So now you know, how do you want to proceed?" Happy asked.

"I want you to get a divorce so we can get married." Toby told her.

"You're thinking like a 5 year old with his favorite toy again. Do you really want to see Walter get deported?" Happy asked quietly.

Toby stood there for a moment and Happy hit his arm with the back of her hand. "Give me a minute, I'm thinking," Toby told her.

"Really, just going to throw Sly, Paige and Ralph to the wolves are you?" Happy asked.

"How do you figure?" Toby looked at her.

"Who's going to hire Sly? He's got more phobias then the dictionary. Paige is awesome in her role here, but like the rest of us we all 'work at Scorpion' when we can't 'work' anywhere else, because of Walter. And somehow Paige's ability augments Walter's. He coalesces us together as a group and she's bridges the gap enabling the group to function in society. Get rid of either and the group falls apart. I could get a job at or start my own garage if I had to but I don't want to work on cars as a living. No engineering firm is going to touch me because I am too volatile. You, you can't stop pissing people off long enough to truly help them as a psychologist. While Paige has gotten a lot of experience working for Walter, and it might keep her from having to go back to being a waitress but that's no guarantee. And you know how much Ralph loves Walter imagine how heart broken he would be with Walter back in Ireland never allowed to return. Not to mention if they decide the marriage was fraudulent I wouldn't have to worry about a job for 10 to 20 years. How would that work for your plans of being together?" Happy concluded.

"Hey, you can't lay all of that one me." Toby told her.

"You're the one that can't decide on Walter being sent back to Ireland or not. So yes I can." Happy told him.

"Of course I don't want him to be deported; he's still my best friend too. But you both have known all this time how bad this was bothering me. Neither of you have done anything to change that." Toby told her.

"Well I'm sorry it's hurt you so much, it isn't what I wanted. But Walter was only doing what I told him to do. With your propensity to blurt out things I couldn't take the risk you wouldn't get Walter busted." Happy told him as she stepped up and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Well there is that," Toby admitted as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and hugged her tighter to him and they kissed. Their kiss grew deeper when his eyes opened wide with a goofy smile, "Hey, how about that, our first serious discussion without me being a smart ass." *ow* "My spleen," Toby exclaimed.

"So much for that moment," Happy said as she turned and walked back into the hospital.

* * *

Present day:

"Okay Walter, I'm very impressed with your body's recovery from all the burns. Are you ready for these bandages to come off of your eyes?" Dr Froud asked.

Walter was holding tightly to Paige and Ralph's hands, "Like you can't believe Doc, I want to see the woman I love and my boy so bad. An eidetic memory is fine but it doesn't replace living breathing visions."

Dr Froud smiled as she cut up along his right temple while gently pushing against the bandages over his eyes. Once the wrappings were loose, "Okay Walter, keep your eyes closed. Once I pull the bandages away, open them very slowly. The lighting is very subdued so don't panic and don't rush it, it can still be blinding to your eyes."

Walter nodded just a little and she pulled the bandages away, Walter had a fine bit of stubble for hair. He looked particular with almost no eyebrows. Toby grimaced, "Oh God Doc, it's hideous, cover it back up!" *Oof*

Everyone laughed as they looked at Happy.

Walter began to slowly open his eyelids and he stopped ever so often trying to give his eyes a chance to adapt even to the low light, the Dr had been right it was almost overwhelming. Finally with his eyes opened all the way and while a little blurry, he was blinking repeatedly trying to adjust as his head turned towards Paige tears ran down his cheeks, "You're the most beautiful woman in the world." His smile erupted on his face and Paige let out a squeal of joy as she leaned forward hugging and kissing him over and over, Running her free hand across his stubble.

"Will there be someone with you all day and night in case you need something or there is an emergency?" Dr Froud asked.

"I'll be there, as will Ralph when not in school. Walter will be safe." Paige told her.

Dr Froud smiled as she nodded. "PT said they were okay with where you are right now but they insist that for any distance of more than ten feet you use the wheelchair and absolutely no stairs and someone has to assist you transferring. Is your bedroom on the ground floor?" Dr Froud asked.

Walter shook his head, "But there is a ramp to the loft."

Dr Froud nodded, "Okay, you need to use the wheelchair going up the ramp. Richard has a homecare PT group coming out to your place today to evaluate the setting and make recommendations to help accommodate your weaknesses and to work with you to get your muscles back to normal. Failure to comply with them will require you to go to a rehab hospital until you are completely healed. Do I have your word to comply with them?"

Walter still smiling at Paige he nodded his head, "I will comply."

* * *

It was a painful ride back to the Garage but Walter didn't care, he had Paige sitting next to him on his left and Ralph on his right, he was so sick of being at the hospital, as Cabe drove them.

As they pulled up out front they saw the banner welcoming him home with Happy, Toby and Sylvester standing out front waving. As Cabe pulled up Sylvester ran to the back of the SUV and got the wheelchair out and brought it around to the right side of the SUV. Paige ran around, "Now be careful and take your time Walter. There's no rush."

Walter smiled, normally he'd be irritated at such behavior but now, it was the most natural thing coming from Paige. He slowly slid over after Ralph got out and then grabbing hold of Paige's hand he put his foot down on the concrete and tried to push up but his leg muscles weren't cooperating very well. "Sly, I think Paige and I need a little more assistance." Walter told him.

Sylvester moved forward and reached in and wrapped his arm under Walter's and took hold of the back of Walter's arm. As Walter pulled against Sylvester and Paige they pulled back and he slowly stood up and he carefully transferred to the wheelchair watching his left foot as it still had a tendency to drop and his toes would drag along the ground.

"We got a surprise for you inside boss," Happy told him.

Walter smiled as they started to push him in, "Oh really? What is it?"

"That would ruin the surprise," Paige told him.

He looked around the ground floor and didn't see anything really different and he looked at Happy and Paige with a puzzled expression and they both looked up to the loft.

* * *

They pushed him up the ramp and as they reached the top he saw an actual door way leading to his bedroom and they pushed him into his bedroom and found it actually was a real bedroom now. "Richard wanted to do something nice for you so he paid me to modify the loft for you since Paige and Ralph will be spending nights here at least while you're recovering." Happy told him.

They pushed him over so he could see the new walk in closet and the new bathroom she was still in the process of working on. "Sorry, I haven't gotten the bathroom finished. It's going to be fully ADA compliant. Richard sprung for the absolutely best of everything for it."

Walter wiped at the tear on his cheek, "It looks amazing already, thank you Happy."

Paige's heart soared at his connection to that emotion and his expression to Happy.

They pushed him out the other door and showed him the bedroom she put in for Ralph. Walter looked up and saw the new skylight she had put in. "I hope I wasn't too presumptuous in moving some of Ralphy's and my clothes into the closest. You need assistance and it would be really inconvenient to constantly have to drive home to get new clothes and whatever."

Walter reached over his shoulder and grabbed her hand, "I am so grateful, it isn't presumptuous at all. I'm happy with whatever you need or want to do."

Paige smiled and bent over and kissed the top of his head.

Happy was feeling a little uncomfortable with the emotions told them, "Okay then, moving right along."

Walter stopped them and pointed at the skylight, "It is safe right?"

Happy smiled, "Yep, it doesn't open and the framework is a titanium alloy. The glass is made with a special glass that takes a diamond blade to cut and will resist even a sledgehammer impacting on it."

Walter nodded and smiled as they pushed him into the living area. "I wasn't sure exactly how you might want this so I hadn't started yet. If you wanted to leave it open, maybe some half walls to denote the kitchen, dining and living room or if you wanted real walls."

"Happy, you've done such an amazing job. How do you want it set up Paige? Your opinion on it means more." Walter tried to look back but grimaced in pain.

"Do you need your pain pills?" Paige asked nervously as she moved quickly around and knelt down to look him in the eye.

"No, I just over extended my neck." He smiled at her.

Paige smiled, "I kind of like the idea of half walls."

Walter looked at Happy, "You heard the queen, half walls it is."

Happy rolled her eyes, "Oh brother, just get a room already."

Walter and Paige laughed.

"Walter, did they show you my room yet? Happy did a great job on it. She put in a skylight for me so I can see the stars at night without leaving my bed!" Ralph told him enthusiastically as he came running up the stairs.

"They sure did buddy, it looked so amazing. Happy did a great job." Walter smiled at him.

"Hey boss, you got company down here." Toby yelled up.

Paige stepped over to the steps and saw a couple in scrubs carrying various bags, "Welcome, come on up, you can either come up the ramp or the stairs."

"I guess Richard really 'encouraged' them to be on the ball." Happy laughed.

"He feels so guilty, I wish he didn't." Walter told them. "I used some pretty poor judgment that day."

Paige looked at him, "What do you mean?"

"I didn't even check the weather, I was in too much of a hurry to get out there and prove myself because my pride was hurt that there seemed to be a flaw in my design." Walter told them.

"I didn't even consider what was more important." Walter said taking hold of Paige's hand.

"Are you kidding? If that had happened two days earlier you'd probably have died". Sylvester told him as he came up the stairs with the physical therapists.

"What do you mean?" Walter looked at him.

"Walter, I ran all the scenarios in my head, based on past decisions, actions and desires there was a ninety seven point six percent chance you would have closed the hatch and rode that rocket into space and most likely have died after I completely the black box diagnosis. There was only a two point four percent chance you would have chosen to escape. Adjusted for your desire to see space and the odds you would choose to escape drops to only a point seventeen percent. The only thing that skews my calculations is Paige. Creating a variable to represent your changed relationship with her created a ninety nine point sixty seven percent chance of escaping regardless to how much you wanted to see space." Sylvester told them.

"Well then, thank you Baby, it seems I owe you my life again." Walter told her as he took her hand. He still didn't have the cadence down right for using a term of endearment but he was getting a little better with it. Not that Paige cared as she sat down in his lap and kissed him deeply.

"I'd say we owe each other our lives. And I really wouldn't have it any other way." She punctuated each of the last eight words with a kiss.

* * *

**And so ends 3x03! I really hope you have enjoyed the story. I do apologize if Toby and Happy seemed off in this story, I was trying to maintain the anger of Toby over Happy refusing to tell him who her husband was and I hope this last chapter shows they both still love each other. **

**I haven't even written chapter 15 of the Betray story so hopefully I will get that done a little later and posted later this evening. If not tomorrow for sure.**

**Last night a new story idea presented itself. It's been a bit demanding today so I will probably have to indulge it. It will really flip Scorpion completely on its head if I am successful. What is in my mind will probably be a one shot and a completely unrecognizable AU. **

**To the Adventure! -Tim**


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